The Boston University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were swept by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in a non-conference meet on Saturday.
The women stayed close with Massachusetts but fell just short, losing 153-147. The Massachusetts women took first in nine out of the 16 events. The loss dropped the women to 0-3 on the season (0-2 America East). Despite the loss however, BU got a number of winning performances.
‘The fact that we were this close, I wouldn’t say the loss is devastating or anything,’ said senior Ingrid Salazar.
‘They really swam well,’ said BU Coach Reagh Wetmore. ‘The whole team was an entirely different team than against New Hampshire.’
Senior captain Karissa Lopez came through with a very strong meet for BU. After three second-place finishes against New Hampshire, Lopez was able to grab a couple of wins this weekend. Lopez won both the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly and finished second in the individual medley.
‘My times were good, so that’s a good point for me to be at in the season,’ Lopez said.
Freshman freestyle swimmer Meagan Breiland continues to be a standout for BU. She won both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events against Massachusetts. She also anchored the final relay for BU. Breiland, along with fellow freshmen Kila Englebrook, Hannah Mulry and Natalie Boyd gave the Terriers their first win of the year in the relay, with Breiland coming from behind in the final lap.
Wetmore praised Breiland and Boyd for their strong showings on Saturday. In addition to her relay performance, Boyd finished second in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle.
‘She swam really well and lowered her times in both,’ Wetmore said.
Salazar was another member of the squad who came though with a key performance for BU. She scored the first victory of the day for the Terriers with a win in the 1,000-yard freestyle.
Sophomore Sylvia Golle continued her dominance in diving by winning both the one- and three-meter events. She has gone undefeated on the season.
In the end it came down to just one more win that prevented BU from scoring their first victory of the season. While the women didn’t win the meet, there were a number of strong performances to build on for next weekend.
The men had a more difficult time than the women against a tough Massachusetts team, losing their meet, 181-113. It was the first loss of the season for BU, dropping them to 1-1 (1-0 America East).
‘They were a vastly superior team to us, no question,’ Wetmore said. ‘We were expecting it though.’
Freshman Mike Kelly was the star performer for BU against Massachusetts. He won both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle.
‘I felt pretty strong,’ Kelly said. ‘I did a pretty good job swimming against the people next to me.’
Wetmore also had good things to say about Kelly’s performance.
‘He swam exceedingly well,’ Wetmore said. ‘He had to get out there and swim fast, and he did.’
Senior freestyle swimmer Doug Mark finished second in both the 500-yard and 1,000-yard freestyle and junior Jay Toutant took second in the 100-yard backstroke. Senior captain Scott Harrower finished second in the 100-yard butterfly.
‘He swam a good fly,’ Wetmore said. ‘It was by far his best time of the season.’
Sophomore diver Victor Paguia won the one-meter dive, but finished third on the three-meter.
‘That’s very unusual for him, it was too bad that we weren’t diving in our own pool,’ Wetmore said, referring to the fact that the men’s and women’s divers competed at Harvard University, not at BU with the rest of the team.
Both the men and women will face another tough school next weekend when they travel to the University of Connecticut.
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